Size of Bug list is an embarrassment

Stratics Veteran

Quite a few of us have been very patient with submitting bugs, some more annoying with others. I don't really think it's acceptable for there to be so many bugs in what is essentially a low tech and well established game.

I can't remember the last time we had a patch that was purely bug fixes without adding new bugged content.

Was back at the start of the year when they put out a HUGE bug fix patch ...... However they had to revert somewhere around 30 percent of it because it totally borked things...

How quickly some forget.

Would I like them to do another go at squashing 100's of bugs... sure... Do I think it will happen? No. Too few real DEV's on the team who can work code. Artists and storyline people can't do code. They've (EA not our team) have fired most the competent people from the team who might have been able to fix the bugs. So don't hold your breath.

You know this also means that they are also not really going to be adding diddly squat to the game for a long time to come. Least not much more than a few aesthetics.

Trust me when I say they are aware of it... and would LOVE to do more about it... but yeah.

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Stratics Veteran

You can keep harping on about the bug list all you want, Mervyn, but it will never be dealt with to the extant that you wish. UO just doesn't have the manpower to deal with all the bugs. As long as they can keep extinguishing the actual major bugs like the recent "duping" exploit (not bugs that simply bug you (hehe)) then I am happy...

Stratics Veteran

You can keep harping on about the bug list all you want, Mervyn, but it will never be dealt with to the extant that you wish. UO just doesn't have the manpower to deal with all the bugs. As long as they can keep extinguishing the actual major bugs like the recent "duping" exploit (not bugs that simply bug you (hehe)) then I am happy...

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They can start by fixing all the ones in the Bug Tracking forum, that would keep me satisfied.

VIPStratics Veteran

Artists and storyline people can't do code. They've (EA not our team) have fired most the competent people from the team who might have been able to fix the bugs. So don't hold your breath.

You know this also means that they are also not really going to be adding diddly squat to the game for a long time to come. Least not much more than a few aesthetics.

Trust me when I say they are aware of it... and would LOVE to do more about it... but yeah.

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Just as an FYI...with the exception of Artists, as a developer on UO we are responsible for not only coming up with the content (being storyline people) but also implementing it. That translates into having a detailed understanding of the technical side of our game as well as being able to effectively code it into operation within the UO engine.

As for "not really adding diddly squat...", well I think you may be pleasantly surprised with the upcoming publish. We try to fix some bugs with each publish. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

It should also be noted that a large portion of what certain people call a "bug" really isn't but instead is a personal preference of how something should work, or is designed a specific way for a reason that the complaining person does not realize.

Just as an FYI...with the exception of Artists, as a developer on UO we are responsible for not only coming up with the content (being storyline people) but also implementing it. That translates into having a detailed understanding of the technical side of our game as well as being able to effectively code it into operation within the UO engine.

As for "not really adding diddly squat...", well I think you may be pleasantly surprised with the upcoming publish. We try to fix some bugs with each publish. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

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I seriously hope so. And nothing against our team as I love you guys all to death... It's EA that holds my wrath... Stripping my game of it's vital resources despite my loyalties. Starting to really make me angry.

I've got high hopes for the future... but I don't hold my breath anymore... seems everytime I do and think things are looking up for UO EA pulls another braindead move like firing more DEV's.... or moving UO across the country.

Just as an FYI...with the exception of Artists, as a developer on UO we are responsible for not only coming up with the content (being storyline people) but also implementing it. That translates into having a detailed understanding of the technical side of our game as well as being able to effectively code it into operation within the UO engine.

As for "not really adding diddly squat...", well I think you may be pleasantly surprised with the upcoming publish. We try to fix some bugs with each publish. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

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I like this Kyronix fella.
i guess that means its just about time for EA to let him go then, eh?

Stratics VeteranAlumniStratics Legend

As for "not really adding diddly squat...", well I think you may be pleasantly surprised with the upcoming publish. We try to fix some bugs with each publish. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

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You folks definitely have to have tough skin.... heck, you could chomp that elephant in a single bite and some folks would still gripe and whine (no offense to anyone in particular). Keep up the good work on running 'em down and fixing 'em.

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With all the different content in the game, two game engines, seige on thier own little world. It is amased this game doesn't have more bugs than it has. I think they are doing a very good job keeping up and working on things as they do. I see more bugs in the newer games than I actualy do in this game.

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There are other games? Games besides UO that people actually play. They must live in a sad world.

I'm guilty of playing freecell soemtimes. Just more fulfilling then completing a BoD. And freecell takes less time then trying to trap 40+ dungeoness crabs (have plenty of the rest due to being rarely asked for).

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

We have an awful large Bug elephant and I for one think the dev has been chewing pretty well at the meat of the beast. It took 15 years for some of those bugs to see daylight.
I know you think your helping by bringing it up and in the minds but give the dev a break... they do try hard these days.

One day my hubby thought he was being a smart tush and said to me that I had a easy job as wife and mom and being a stay at home kind.
Oh?? I said to him.... I dare you to do MY EASY JOB. the old saying of walk a mile in my moccasins was on my mind at that point...
He took the challenge and said ok I will do tomorrows day for you.. he was not busy with work so he took the day off to answer my challenge.
I was helpful and wrote him out a list of major points that needed to be done by me and a semi needs list I toss in when I can type stuff as I do all the time.
Can you imagine any male worth his salt taking on a housewifes job? For those of you who have no idea what it takes be thankful this was not you.
Hubby took list and started the day as I did and by that night he was so dead tired and wore out he crashed the minute his head hit the pillow.
Next morning... I got a kiss and a hug from him and said to me "Honey I love you ..... how the hell do you do it every day?!!!!"
Its my job hun... was my answer.

Kyronix and the dev are in the same boat here. We don't know what their day is like... oh we have ideas as we have seen some glimpse of it but not a full working day with all its demands. We know they try... and this team being so small now makes it twice as amazing that they get publishes out in the time span they do.
And they have one thing most of us don't over their heads.... the brass of EA, who by the way are not as generous as we are.

Stratics Veteran

Just as an FYI...with the exception of Artists, as a developer on UO we are responsible for not only coming up with the content (being storyline people) but also implementing it. That translates into having a detailed understanding of the technical side of our game as well as being able to effectively code it into operation within the UO engine.

As for "not really adding diddly squat...", well I think you may be pleasantly surprised with the upcoming publish. We try to fix some bugs with each publish. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

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Ya you also told me that you had was working on a fix against the bola exploit bug....... WHERE IS IT?

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

Look, all of you have your priorities askew; bola balls? Elephants? None of that matters. I've discovered a bug which is so earthshaking in it's importance, I'll close all of Meryvn's accounts (yet again) unless it's fixed RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Are you ready for this? It's shocking, but I'm certain it's the most important issue ever. It seems... that the hay that you get from Pirates, the one that stacks? Well, if fed to a chicken lizard... doesn't seem to get them to lay eggs, or at least fantastically less often than the non stacking hay.

There Kyronix, how can you sleep at night knowing that the wrong sort of hay seems to affect chicken fertility?

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Look, all of you have your priorities askew; bola balls? Elephants? None of that matters. I've discovered a bug which is so earthshaking in it's importance, I'll close all of Meryvn's accounts (yet again) unless it's fixed RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Are you ready for this? It's shocking, but I'm certain it's the most important issue ever. It seems... that the hay that you get from Pirates, the one that stacks? Well, if fed to a chicken lizard... doesn't seem to get them to lay eggs, or at least fantastically less often than the non stacking hay.

There Kyronix, how can you sleep at night knowing that the wrong sort of hay seems to affect chicken fertility?

You should be ashamed.

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That's cool... I mean if you don't mind paying a monthly subscription for 15 year old game that's has more bugs in it then games that are currently in open beta then by all means keep making jokes.

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That's cool... I mean if you don't mind paying a monthly subscription for 15 year old game that's has more bugs in it then games that are currently in open beta then by all means keep making jokes.

But from my perspective it's pretty pathetic.

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It's only part of a joke; that's genuinely a possible bug. And one I used to make a subtle point I knew most of the outraged would completely miss. Does it affect you? Nope. I've noticed it because I've been idly trying to get eggs for a battle chicken. Does it break the game in any meaningful way? Does anyone other than me even notice if it's an issue? No. Because, in the real scheme of things, it's not of any real importance.

So it is with threads like these. "if you don't mind paying a monthly subscription for a 15 year old game".... you really don't understand people or priorities, do you? Those of us left actually don't mind. We don't, because wouldn't be here if we did; We don't have a love/hate relationship with a game, we don't struggle with feelings of "I wish I knew how to quit you". We have wider lives, with loves and hates enough. We pay and play here, now, because despite the bugs, the core game for us works in some way. 15 years? I was playing computer games more than a decade before even that... how little perspective you have. That's not to excuse some pretty hefty bugs here, today; but have you actually played any other MMOs? If you think UO is even the buggiest in that sub-genre of games...

But from your perspective, I expect it is. I can fully imagine there's some sort of Chicken Lizard egg that you can't ignore. I just don't think it, or myself is the centre of the universe. I hated the nonsense that came with the election system, hated the grind with some of the recent content. The lack of support for customer service is shocking. But... turn on the news. Go and do it, right now; pick a story. 26 dead in Iraq's ongoing civil war. San Francisco is on fire. Poison gas attacks in Syria, either fired from Al Qaeda on one side or Assad on the other and Russia and the United States picking sides and drawing red lines... But hey, you want to get enraged by the state of a basically working computer game? Hey, that's cool... it's certainly easier to handle than the news, isn't it?

The difference is, changing the real world requires hard work, and often seemingly pointless struggle that might end up costing you your life. Changing a computer game though? All it requires is a bit of time spent on test centre, or in game working on the common good, of just writing an informed report on the Bugs Forum, from your comfy chair with a cold coke nearby. And have you done that? Do you work with the Devs to get the bug fixed, instead of just venting to let off steam? If I click your user name, will I see any of your posts in the Bug Forum? How come you didn't spot the potential bug in the differences between Hay types and producing chicken eggs if you're so committed to the game?

Because I did. You see, I'm more concerned with reality, and getting it fixed. I'm also actively engaged in real life politics for that matter too. And my own social life. It's just don't have time or energy to be personally enraged I can't use a bola ball in some way to prove my worth over someone else in a computer game. A game which, as we are all so aware, is running now on a shoestring too. You know, I personally don't believe in miracles; No Fairy Godcoder is going to come down and wave a magic wand and make an entire industry with decades of dodgy history perfect overnight, it's a real world with real people in it and not a whole lot of magic. Sorry to have to break it to you, but there we go...

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy some Hay to feed to some virtual chickens.

A vast majority of the things that tick me off right now around the game I love have to do with things beyond the DEV's control.... Such as the lack of customer support, the inability to call up and get help with the P.O.S. Account Management System... the fact that when I order something from Origin if I don't get the code off the web when it confirms my order I'm not getting one in my EMail...... the fact that the code I get is NOT in the correct format for use in my game.... I have to delete all the dashes and put them back in the correct format myself....

Things that annoy me in-game would be small compared to that. Such as my inability to see certain things in the EC. Or my constant "lack of cohesion" .... Or the crash that always accompanies trading things at the bank. Then there are the little things like how dyes don't work on many objects that I think they should... Or that there are 100's of missing tiles in the customization mode that ought to be in the game....... or that some of the tiles in the custom mode think they are stairs or cause pieces of your house to be "illegal" when you use them. (Cute brown cube for instance).... Anyway those things are very minor compared to the things EA does to seriously tick me off.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

I seriously hope so. And nothing against our team as I love you guys all to death... It's EA that holds my wrath... Stripping my game of it's vital resources despite my loyalties. Starting to really make me angry.

I've got high hopes for the future... but I don't hold my breath anymore... seems everytime I do and think things are looking up for UO EA pulls another braindead move like firing more DEV's.... or moving UO across the country.

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A change of address and how a company I don't own decides to deal with its paid employees does not affect my gameplay one bit.
I have been playing all facets of UO for 15 years and having a blast.

"Love...death...wrath...loyalties"

Seriously obsessive words that any psychologist would have a field day with. Just sayin...

Stratics Veteran

It should also be noted that a large portion of what certain people call a "bug" really isn't but instead is a personal preference of how something should work, or is designed a specific way for a reason that the complaining person does not realize.

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I speak of the official bug list.

Also conversely there are some bugs that UO will say are not bugs simply because they cannot be fixed, for example; when entering a dungeon you lose hit points if you are wearing strength armour. This is deemed not a bug because they're unable to find a solution to the problem.

Stratics Veteran

If you are so outraged and offended, Kage, perhaps you should move on...

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Are you saying if you don't like it quit the game? This is what so many have done, we as UO players should be trying to prevent this are we not? Or you would prefer to play on your own? If this is the case, why play online? Why not play by yourself offline?

Stratics Veteran

Are you saying if you don't like it quit the game? This is what so many have done, we as UO players should be trying to prevent this are we not? Or you would prefer to play on your own? If this is the case, why play online? Why not play by yourself offline?

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My post isn't that hard to understand, but obviously it was for you. There is a huge difference between what you downplayed my post to saying as simply not liking something and being outraged and disgusted (which Kage admitted he was), and that difference should also be obvious (a simple dislike vs the most extreme dislike). If someone is to the point of being outraged and disgusted with this game and the choices made by the dev team then they will never be happy and will just continue being outraged with this game they pay for. If I were so dissapointed in a product I pay for I would move on myself.

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